Polis: Prop. CC would make growth work for Colorado»

As I travel throughout Colorado, I hear a lot of concerns about the impacts of growth on our state.

People are excited about the vitality of our economy, but they are overwhelmed by traffic, congestion and the rising cost of living. From housing to health care to child care, it’s simply getting harder to afford to live here.

That’s why I’ve made it my top priority to keep our state affordable and to do a better job managing growth in our state. This year I’ve focused on three things to ease the burden: lowering the cost of health care; providing free preschool and kindergarten for all children; and cutting subsidies to special interests and passing the savings along to you by reducing taxes.

I’m proud of our successes to date. We’ve reduced health insurance premiums in the individual market by an average of 20.2%, saving Colorado families thousands of dollars every year. We are providing full-day kindergarten free for all children. This too saves families money. And we cut taxes for every main street smalland medium-sized business by reducing the amount of sales tax they collect that they have to pay to the state. These small-business owners can keep more of their hard-earned money or pass it along to customers by reducing prices. We paid for it by reducing unfair subsidies to big-box retailers.

Yet our roads and bridges have been overrun with ever-increasing congestion, and our schools are struggling to attract and retain teachers. In the same election in which I was elected governor last year, voters turned down a sales-tax increase to fund our roads. Now we have a new chance, without raising taxes, to better fund our roads: Proposition CC.

I support Proposition CC so our state can start fixing things. Proposition CC requires Colorado to spend the tax revenue it already collects on education and transportation, without raising taxes.

Many years ago, Colorado adopted an arbitrary formula that limits our ability to make investments in things like education and transportation when economic times are good. A lot has changed in 30-plus years, and this fixed formula is now obsolete. It doesn’t let us keep up with the needs of our fast-growing state. It’s senseless for us not to repair unsafe bridges and maddening to watch class sizes bloat and great teachers leave our schools.

Growth impacts all of us. But we can make it work for us rather than against us. There are real steps we can take to manage growth better and to keep Colorado affordable. If voters approve Proposition CC, it will dedicate funding to help attract and keep the best teachers in our schools; reduce the cost state universities and of community colleges for students; and reduce traffic and improve safety on our roadways.

It also comes with unprecedented transparency and accountability for how the money is spent: requiring that a public audit each year show voters where the money from Proposition CC was spent. That’s smart accountability.

Proposition CC is a sensible step Colorado can take without raising taxes. Join me in voting “yes” by Nov. 5.